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Big Family Fun!

Sail Date:
February 2012

Destination:
Western Caribbean

Embarkation:
Galveston

What a beautiful, new ship! We arrived in Galveston at noon.traffic was backed up, it took about 90 minutes from arrival to the time we were checked in on the boat. Our rooms were ready so went directly to our room, 2 cove balconies and inside room across the hall. Love our cove would book it again in a minute!!

The staff were all very friendly and helpful. Our room steward was very attentive and kept the room clean with fresh towels. She even showed my girls how to make a towel monkey. The dining room staff was also wonderful, very very attentive. Some nights when we couldn't decide what to get they would bring both! Ken the Maitre D sang every night and We really enjoyed him. He even stopped at our table to visit with us, made us feel extra special. The food was good but have to say I was a little disappointed with the sea food in the main dining room. The sushi was great, deli great, pizza was good, burgers and fries were very good.breakfast and lunch in the main dining More
room was just okay. We did order room service for breakfast several times and it arrived at the time I requested. The lido deck food was good for breakfast but seating was a big complaint of mine. Never seemed to be any seats available to eat at. My kids loved the 24 hour ice cream.

My teenage daughters really enjoyed club O2. They went every night. My 12 year old didn't go to circle c much, so can't comment on that. My two 9 years enjoyed camp carnival but we were always so busy doing thinks that they didn't have much time to go.

The entertainment was good. We especially liked the comedians! both family friendly and adult were very good. But the seating was very difficult. At the end of the week we first in line and stood in line 40 minute before the second show was to start, only to have to separate our group and find seats behind the main seating area because the first comedy group stayed for both sets!Probale 75% of the people stayed for both shows. This was very unfair to do, and carnival should empty out the lounge between sets so that more people have a chance to see the comedy shows. The shows in the showroom were enjoyable. The kids really enjoyed the magician, I missed that night. The legends show was OK. To get good seats you needed to be there at least 30 minutes early.

The ship was so nice and new. Especially like that you could walk all the way around the outside of ship on deck 5. The waterworks was fun for the kids! The ropes coarse was a lot of fun too. The view was great up there! Walked though the serenity spa looked very nice but didn't spend anytime there. Red frog pug was a very neat place. There were plenty of hot tubs around the ship 2 on lido and 4 on deck 5, they were never to busy.
Disembark was fast. We did self disembark and got off the ship at 8:05 though customs and we were in our car and on the road by 8:30.

Great ship and staff very very enjoyable. Would go again tomorrow if I could!! Less

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Cabin review: Carnival Magic

Cove balconies are soo nice, so close to the water. I was not bothered by the lifeboats above, not when you get that kind of view of the water. also could see the beautiful sunsets on the water. I little wet a time or two but not to bad and not wet everyday.

Port and Shore Excursions

Chankanaab National Park Tour

Chankanaab National park is BEAUTIFUL! The lagoon is full of beautiful fish, beautiful clear waters and a very nice beach although the beach doesn't go into the water there are stairs into the water. they also have a botanical garden it looked very nice but I ran out of time so didn't get to check it out.

Dolphin Swim & Encounter

We loved our interaction with the dolphins... the highlight of my children's trip. Very happy with it. The employee's were all very nice and helpful. The only negation was the price of the picture cd. For a family of 7 they wanted over 200 dollars! No thanks not after paying almost 700 dollars for the excursion. I did bring my own waterproof camera so I do have those pictures.

Stingray Swim

By far my favorite excursion!! Moby Dick was so patient with everyone explaining how to handle the stingrays and how to feed them. They were in the water with us helping us feed them. The food for stingrays was included. Moby Dick also took pictures with OUR waterproof camera of us holding the stingrays! On our way back they even got a starfish our of the water for a short time for the kids to see. On the bus ride back to port we were given to option to stop at 7 mile beach and take the public busing or taxi back to port. We did this and we were very glad we did! What a perfect beach!! Busing is $2 per person. we bartered for a taxi for $30 for 11 of us. Great Great excursion!

Catamaran Tour

We had a excursion with Jamaica Watersport, We were picked up in their catamaran right off the pier. Which was Great. we were taken our snorkeling for 45 minutes and then taken to Dr Cave beach club. We were very pleased with our excursion. They took pictures of our family for us, even took pictures of us snorkeling with our water camera.

Snorkeling

We had a excursion with Jamaica Watersport, We were picked up in their catamaran right off the pier. Which was Great. we were taken our snorkeling for 45 minutes and then taken to Dr Cave beach club. We were very pleased with our excursion. They took pictures of our family for us, even took pictures of us snorkeling with our water camera.